Green Daily

20 crazy ways people have reused and recycled

Ellen Slattery — 2008-05-06T09:41:00 00:00

Did you know that in the Middle Ages, urine was used to make saltpeter, a form of gunpowder? Or that in 1821, Turkish soldiers stripped lead from the walls of a Greek temple to make bullets?

These people were pretty resourceful - we could learn a thing or two! Some people already have: In Australia, one nut orchard is converting old Mac computers into homes for pest-eating birds. And one company in Britain makes coffins out of hardened recycled paper.

Okay, some of the examples are a little extreme (to read more, visit Discover Magazine). But get used to it: if we keep destroying the earth, at the rate we're going, we'll have to make like Luiz Bispo and construct our house out of recycled construction waste, and float it on a raft of old plastic bottles.

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Recycle your jewelry and get back at your ex in one fell swoop

Ellen Slattery — 2008-05-05T17:22:00 00:00

Filed under: Fashion, Shopping Guide, Green Blog Tour

So, to be fair, the site "Ex-Boyfriend Jewelry" should simply be "Ex Jewelry," 'cause it's not just boyfriends that shower their mates with jewelry.

Name aside, though, the site is a pretty smart idea - its slogan is "you don't want it, he can't have it back." Instead of burning that topaz necklace, tossing it in the trash can or hurling it onto the highway, make some money off that sucker (the necklace, not the ex) and help the environment in the process.

You can hawk everything from bracelets to earrings, but my favorite is the "Gifts that should have been jewelry" category, filled with bags, wallets, perfume, and even a few wedding dresses from some bitter sisters whose beaus ditched them before they could don the virginal white gowns.

The end result? Fellow bitter sistah gets rid of her burdensome reminder of a failed relationship, and you get a gently-used piece of bling. Win-win.

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Unsure of where to buy good local products?

Ellen Slattery — 2008-05-01T16:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Shopping Guide, Green Blog Tour

Locallectual.com is here to help. Simply register a user profile, and then tell the site that you want a specific type of product in a certain radius from your zip code. The system does the work for you, and tells you if there's any of those specific businesses or products in your area.

The site is still pretty new, and even 100 miles from my zip code, no results showed up, but I'll give it some time (the site's organizers are marketing it as a "wiki" site, so they rely upon users to submit local business info). You can also review the products and businesses.

There are also "member communities" and a forum/message board, which might even prove more helpful at this point than the search feature.

Right now, I think I'll stick to my city's Craigslist page and Freecycle, but it's nice to know that there's another site out there promoting local buying.

via [thealternativeconsumer]

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DivineCaroline gives women more ways to go green

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-09T15:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Fashion, Health, Home, Green Blog Tour

DivineCaroline is a robust, content-rich site, chock-full of news, gossip, and tips for women. The difference, it seems, between this site and others that market to women? It doesn't degrade, insult, or send women on guilt-trips. The site's writers cover everything from politics to pop culture, and in a way that appeals to women of all ages, shapes, sizes, and sexual orientations.

Recently, DC put up a bevy of green posts - check 'em out:

Amanda Coggin examines The Costs of Going Green and How to Save; her tips information on the Diva Cup, organic baby food, and clothing swaps.

The Ten Ways to Be Green At Home post explores biodegradable plastic bags, clothes-line drying and cooler showers.

And finally, want to find out Ten Things Every Woman Should Know To Style Herself Green? Hint: They include raiding the thrift store, staging clothing swaps, and being creative with Grandma's old cardigans.

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Two new ways to dump your junk

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-01T15:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Think dumpster diving sounds like fun, but don't like the whole touching-germ-ridden-trash part?

No problem: just dive into a virtual dumpster. VDumpsters lets you search through other users' bins for stuff you need, and they can do the same to you. Reduce, reuse, and recycle, without having to wash your hands afterward.

Does this new site sound familiar? It should - it's pretty much an amalgamation of Craigslist and Freecycle. On VDumps (that would make a great rapper name), you sign up, advertise your old junk, and search through others' bins via zip code or state. (The site is still in its infancy - so far, I'm the only one signed up in my Philly zip code). But the virtual dumpster idea is a creative one, and it's thrilling to see people participating - I just hope it finds its niche and doesn't get lost among the more well-known forums.
Another new site, Trashcycle, is a bit different: users can list pretty much anything they want (old food containers, logs, broken furniture, you name it) in hopes that someone, somewhere, will find it useful. When I visited the site, one user from Providence, Rhode Island was in search of worms, and another wanted a wedding dress. You can search for items you need, or, like Worm Guy, list it for all users to see. Sound weird? A little, but the site's owners claim that many schools use the site to get materials needed for class projects.

I'm not sure if I would have the time and patience to list every last piece of trash on a site like TrashCycle, but maybe it's something we should all be striving for. The next time you're about to throw something out, think: Would someone else actually find a use for this piece of crap? Chances are, they will.

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Green Blog Tour: Fruit can craft and yummy plastic soup

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-26T16:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Fruit can craft. Take a pop top fruit can sans fruit and with clever imagination turn it into a thing of beauty and practical function. Michelle Allen of Stamping Creations creatively transforms a fruit can into a beautiful container for a gift. With complete step-by-step instructions and an illustration of the finished product, her Take one can of fruit is inspirational recycling. An excellent gift giving idea for any occasion, and plenty of time to make one of these gift containers to deliver a gift for your mother on Mother's Day.

Yummy plastic soup. No, it is far from yummy but it is a soupy stomach turning collection of plastic debris floating around in the water at sea. In addition to cargo spills of Nike shoes and rubber duckies, there is an estimated 3.5 million tons of plastic in fragments as small as a penny polluting our ocean. Nothing explains the present plastic soup swirling around better than a graphic video. Zaproot features Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen as they show what they found in a recent voyage across the North Pacific gyre in Yummy Plastic Soup at Anna's Bring Your Own blog.

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Footwear company inspires people to take a stand

Ellen Slattery — 2008-03-22T13:03:00 00:00

Filed under: Shopping Guide, Activism, Green Blog Tour, Fitness

Eco-footwear and clothing company Keen recently held a contest, Stand Up, Out for Sustainability to encourage people to enter their new ideas about what is possible through the use of recycling and reusing products. Entries came in all forms - written, photographed, assembled constructed - and are a great example of what a little creativity and a bit of elbow grease can do.

The contest is part of Keen's overarching project that features a full-length documentary by the same name. It stars regular people talking about "taking a stand for what they believe in." (watch it here).

There are videos featured on Keen's website about some of the artists, like artist/sculptor Matt Cartwright, who starts off by expressing an idea that a lot of people probably share, but are unwilling to admit: that when dumpster diving, he's sometimes paranoid or embarrassed that someone will catch him in the act. Entries had to fall into one of three categories: Stand Out, about re-imagining outdoor spaces, Stand Up, a more general category about recycling and reusing to create new products and ideas, and Stand For, about starting and joining environmental causes.
You can take in dozens of submissions on the site, where you might just get inspired to create your own reused work of art or start your own volunteer organization. One woman used her used coffee filters to make a wall quilt, and another woman spoke of her experience with Engineers Without Borders.

The Keen contest is a great example of a melding of art and function, and proves that creativity is key when it comes to changing your environment and coming up with new ways of doing things.

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Green Blog Tour: Panic shower and slow living grocery list

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-17T19:18:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Megan of not martha broke a light bulb. No big deal, right? No big deal until she remembered it was a compact fluorescent bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) contain mercury. After taking a panic shower, she checked the internet for information about CFLs. Although research led to the conclusion a Hazmat team was not required, the EPA guidelines make one feel uneasy for the advised steps in reducing the danger of mercury exposure from what should be something as simple and innocuous as a light bulb. Ultimately, Megan questions the eco-friendliness of a CFL light bulb.

An American food and travel writer, a reformed consumer, now living a rural slow life in the south of France with her husband and daughter, Riana of These Days in French Life began living a slow year back in August 2007. The slow life and the green life have much in common. In How to Start a Slow Year, Riana writes,

"This slow year is just me learning how to get close to nature - mother earth - by not abusing her (not shopping and thus not throwing trash into her soil, not furthering farmers to destroy the land with pesticides, nor the unfair treatment of people all over this globe)."

In My Grocery List, Riana makes a list of a new way of getting food to the table and shopping for food. There are items like coffee and olive oil she is looking to barter for but still buys at the store. Fruit trees on government land are ripe for the picking. She keeps bags in the car for fortuitous fruit. While the sidebar of These Days in French Life features about 16 specific slow life posts, the entire blog reflects the slow life. Enjoy.

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Green Blog Tour: Look inside the veggie bus, fresh veggies, how to adopt a pet

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-14T18:27:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Inside the veggie bus. Threadbanger features a video tour of the inside of the veggie bus they lived on while traveling the country raising sustainable living awareness. The refrigerator, outlets and amplifier are powered by solar power; the stove is run on denatured alcohol; and the interiors are made of compressed recycled paper, bamboo, coconut palm and sustainable hemp. If you want to take a look around, watch The Kopali Bus Eco Show Room Tour video published in Threadbanger's The Veggie Bus Eco Show Room Video!

Spring is almost here. Sign up for a CSA program. Tiffany of the Nature Moms blog reminds us it is time to sign up for Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA). CSA's help connect the community with local small scale farmers for the benefit of both. As a CSA member, fresh vegetables are delivered each week directly from the farm the produce is grown and helps a small farmer compete in a market dominated by large agricultural farm operations. If you are not entirely familiar with how a CSA works, Tiffany offers an easy to understand and comprehensive explanation in Now it the time to pick a CSA.

Tips for adopting a pet. Drawing from various experts, Britt Bravo of Have Fun, Do Good offers tips on adopting a pet from a shelter. Sadly, half of the pets in shelters do not get adopted. Britt asks, "Do you have room in your home for a homeless pet?" While you are considering, consider this: research studies show having a pet and our relationship with pets are mutually beneficial for both the pet and pet owner. People with pets have less heart attack risk, and if they do have a heart attack will recover faster and live longer if they are a pet owner. Check out Tips for adopting a pet from the shelter.

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Green Blog Tour: Greening credit card debt, bread for pennies, craft swap

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-12T19:33:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Greening credit card debt. Given the current economic crisis this country is going through, if you did not worry about money before, you might be starting to feel a little uneasy about your financial future. Most of us will be buying less. Driving less. Finding ways to stretch a dollar. In The Simpler Life, Arduous writes how thinking about money led to worries about money. She read oodles of great advice on blogs about money and debt. Following the spend less financial diets oddly did not seem to work in reducing debt. But then something happened. Arduous explains how No Impact Man, the Colbert Report and a shift in focus led to a greener life and money in the bank.

Bread for pennies. The benefit of cooking from scratch? Homemade meals and baked goods reduce the need for excessive packaging of food and you are able to control the ingredients in food. For those who feel culinary challenged, the whole idea of cooking from scratch can be an intimidating suggestion. Your fears will be assuaged with Incredible Professional Bread by Cheap Like Me. The cost and benefits are weighed, and the homemade artisan bread tips the scale in favor of the effort -- and the effort is minimal. Cost of bakery bread? About $3 dollars. Cost of homemade artisan bread? 41 cents. Cheap Like Me provides the bread recipe link.

Craft Swap. Finding new uses for old things is fun. Making new things out of old things and then sending them to someone in your virtual craft swap circle sounds fun and a charming way to connect with other creative crafters. Meridian Ariel has issued a Recycle - Reuse - Re-craft challenge at Mumsnet Crafters and on her Meridian Ariel blog. Anyone can participate.

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Green Blog Tour: Pancake batter, edible lawns, and homemade sandwich wrap

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-11T17:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Liberating the lawn. Living in the suburban sprawl of neatly manicured lawns, Green Bean of Green Bean Dreams will be liberating some of the back lawn for an edible garden. Already, a grass-covered sidewalk strip in the front has been torn up and planted with beans and corn. Last year, in planting a garden with flowers known to attract butterfly and hummingbird, she took note that few wildlife arrived. Until now.

In the reclaimed sidewalk strip out front, where beans and corn grow, a toad is merrily croaking its presence. In addition to the already planned liberation of the backyard in favor of an edible garden, the Green Bean family is planning to turn part of the front lawn into a butterfly garden with flowers planted in the shape of a butterfly. Green Bean could not be happier to hear a toad is near. In Liberate your lawn, she lists seven great reasons for freeing the lawn to gardens that support wildlife and feed people.

Batter Blaster. If you think manicured lawns are a waste of landscape, then Batter Blaster is going to strike you sad in the silly absurdity of its very existence on the supermarket shelf. Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish first read about the organic pancake batter in a chlorofluorocarbons free aerosol can in a review at the Organic Picks blog. Organic Picks compared the useful existence of Batter Blaster to a butter stick or a toilet paper folder. In agreement, Beth commented that Batter Blaster is ".. just wrong on SO MANY LEVELS!"

Her post comes with a solution by way of Mark's No Big Deal Pancake Recipe. As Beth points out, "In a CNet video comparing canned Batter Blaster with traditional batter-making, mixing up batter the old fashioned way took 3 whole minutes, compared to the 5-second squirt from the can." Last year, I set a challenge to cook from scratch as much as possible to cut down on the extraneous packaging of the food we purchase from the store, and Batter Blaster feels like a setback to those trying to live green. Who cares if the pancake batter inside the can is organic.

Handmade Sandwich Wraps. Formally an environmental scientist, now a stay-at-home mom, Julie of Towards Sustainability took up the challenge to pack lunch without using disposable food bags or food containers. She came up with a homemade sandwich wrap. With step-by-step instructions and photos, she shares how she constructed the fabric sandwich wrap. While discussing how to make the homemade sandwich wrap, Julie mentioned her youngest daughter already takes her school lunch in two drawstring calico bags. Very cool, simple to do ideas.

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Green Blog Tour: Green as a Thistle ultimate green move

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-10T18:18:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

National Post journalist Vanessa Farquharson began the green living blog Green as a Thistle in March of 2007 to chronicle the daily effort of lessening her ecological footprint. Before Vanessa began, she quoted Sesame Street's ever trustworthy Kermit the Frog when he belted out the It's Not Easy Being Green: "Green can be cool and friendly-like and green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree."

True to her word, Vanessa blogged a year of living green and living greener. How a frog would be proud. I was saddened when she wrote her final Green as a Thistle post earlier this month until as promised, Vanessa returned with the first occasional new post. In an ultimate green move, helped by readers of her column and friends, all of Vanessa's possessions were moved from apartment to house by cargo bike and on foot.

You can watch Vanessa's green move at YouTube: Green as a Thistle Low-Impact Move. At the end of the day, there were green prizes. Very nice touch.

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Green Blog Tour: Grant me the courage to sell my car and The MinusCar Project

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-06T20:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Grant me the courage to sell my car. There is talk at the Chile household of selling the car. Of daring to go car-free. Options are being considered: Do they sell the car now or wait until it is beyond repair? Buy a Vespa? Rent a car only when a bike cannot take them where they need to go? Chile has family who live out of town. Pay to have large items delivered? The family has been without a car for a short period of time before -- but not having a car at all in a car culture makes going car-less a very big deal. For many, difficult to imagine. Chile is trying to imagine it, turning the idea over in her mind, writing about it at the Chile Chews blog.

She ends her post with, "My brain is threatening to explode." The comments begin and the conversation offers great options, some inspiration and support, and shared links to other sites that might help Chile in her decision making process of going without a car.

The MinusCar Project. Beany of One Size Fits All suggests Chile check out Michael Christensen, where minus is a plus at The MinusCar Project for inspiration. Christensen lives in South Dakota and began his blog because he wants to quit driving. Because of family obligations, he cannot realistically stop driving a car altogether. His goal is to drive as little as possible and takes you on his live free or drive journey.

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Green Blog Tour: Acai berry alcoholic drink recipe and tasty hemp milk

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-05T19:18:00 00:00

Filed under: Green Blog Tour

Join us as we take a tour of the green blogosphere. Ready? Let's go.

Acai berry alcoholic drink recipe. If you live in part of the country with four distinct seasons, the winter storms and general gray days have become more than most of us can tolerate with upbeat optimism. Starre of Eco-Chick is mixing up a drink to chase away the winter blues with a new liquor made from organic acai berries. The coconut and blood oranges in the Cocoberry Winter Cocktail will transport your senses to the tropics as a remedy for a winter that tends to drag on longer than it should by March. She provides a link to the certified carbon neutral organic acai berry VeeV. According to Starre,

"The combination of the mild, sweet flavor of the acai berry, the bite of the vodka, the sweet-tart of the blood orange juice and the rich, creaminess of the coconut made this a winner- an uber creamy martini that avoids the unhealthy fats in milk products." Sound yummy? You will find the ultimate mid-winter cocktail recipe here.

Tasty hemp milk. While visiting Stumptown Coffee, Crunchy Chicken noticed Hempuccino on the menu. In My hemp, my hemp, my toasty tasty hemp, she reports hempmilk is actually pleasant tasting and better tasting than soymilk. For those who do not drink milk from a cow or goat, and do not like soy milk or rice milk, hempmilk might be an acceptable alternative. Hop on over to Crunchy Chicken and she will tell you why hempmilk is healthy too.

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Green Blog Tour: DIY wallpaper for pennies and hanging light bulb vases

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-04T17:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Home, Green Blog Tour

Join us as we take a tour of the green blogosphere. Ready? Let's go.

Wallpaper for pennies. It was the wallpaper Stephanie Zhong of Fabulously Green took note of while turning the pages of a furniture catalog. The wallpaper on the page featuring a $6,000 dollar Italian-crafted bed was newspaper. As she noted, if it was recycled newspaper, the cost was minimal. Motivated by the possibilities of recycled design, Stephanie created a list of ideas in How to Fab Your Walls. In addition of things to reuse to wallpaper walls with, she offers suggestions for renters and "design chameleons" who want to decorate in a less than permanent way. Need some creative ideas for one-of-a-kind wallpaper that is easy on the budget and kind to the planet? Stephanie has some great ideas.

Hanging light bulb vases. Are you one of those people who look at the contents of a recycling bin or trash wondering if any of the items bound for the recyclers or landfill might still have a use but you cannot think of anything in which it could perform double duty before it gets tossed? Old light bulbs do not seem to be something that could be turned into anything else. However, if you are swapping out energy wasting incandescent light bulbs for energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, or the light bulb has grown dim and burnt out, visit Veronica of Design Sprout for a simple step-by-step set of instructions in taking old light bulbs and making hanging light bulb vases.

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Green Blog Tour: Breastfeeding contest, silicone, and buy organic without going broke

Dalene Entenmann — 2008-03-03T19:27:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health, Kids and Parenting, Green Blog Tour

Join us as we take a tour of the green blogosphere. Ready? Let's go.

Breastfeeding contest. Breastfeeding is an act of green living. In Breastmilk is best -- for the Earth too!, Stefani of teensygreen asks us to consider all the resources and subsequent waste resulting from the production of artificial milk in contrast to all natural and environmentally friendly breastfeeding while writing about the Breastfeeding is Green contest. Sponsored by Nursing Mother Supplies, submit a witty catch phrase to raise awareness on how breastfeeding is great for the environment by April 30 and win a $300 dollar breastfeeding gift basket.

Silicone. We all know about the hazards of plastic to the environment and our health. What about silicone? We are not talking about silicone breast implants but food grade silicone. The kind of silicone used in the manufacture of kitchenware. If you have been wondering where silicone fits into living green, MindfulMomma in Spotlight on Silicone investigates the facts about silicone and offers some interesting information.

Buy organic without going broke. In a first person account, Heather of Enviromom shares in How much are you spending on groceries? it was not more expensive to shop at a locally-owned grocery store that offers a wide variety of organic and local foods than it is to shop at a national big box supermarket where the choices of organic food is limited. She did change some of her shopping habits but the budget remained the same.

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